Network Guidelines

NTS Services Voice Services Networking Videoconferencing Faculty and Staff Billing Training Facilities Management Faculty/Staff User Guides Resident Student Services Repairs Directories and Dialing Procedures
----------- About NTS Job Opportunities FAQs How to Contact NTS

|
  1. IP Phones
    1. All IP Phones must be attached directly to a data jack. They should not be connected to hubs or switches. This is necessary to ensure proper voice quality and 911 services.
    2. Hubs or switches may be connected to IP phones, but never connected to both the IP phone and the wall jack.
  2. Cabling
    1. All user cables must remain within a room. Cables can not be extended through doorways, walls, ceilings, etc. This is important for several reasons. Cables leaving a room are most often a fire or safety violation. They also contribute to Ethernet loops, which can cause network outages.
    2. All data jack to network device cables must be 14 feet or shorter. This is a network design requirement that, if ignored, can lead to intermittent or poor performance on some data jacks.
  3. Network Devices
    1. Wireless Access Points
      1. Wireless Access Points should not be connected to the campus network. They interfere with campus wide wireless coverage provided by NTS, and they pose a security threat to the campus network.
    2. Hubs/Switches
      1. Computer labs and server farms may be run with user supplied switches. NTS recommends a higher speed server connection for these instances.
      2. NTS does not recommend hubs and switches for use in offices, however it understands departments may wish to do this in some situations. When hubs and switches are used:
        1. Each device must plug directly into either a wall data jack, or an IP phone, but never both.
        2. Devices should only be used to connect machines with the physical boundaries of the room (see 2.a.).
        3. For best performance, NTS recommends reasonably new data switches (perhaps two years old or newer) with high speed (100/1000 Mbps) links.
    3. NAT devices should not be used unless all machines behind the NAT device have been registered for use on the campus network via the ordering process.
  4. DHCP Servers
    1. Departments wishing to run a DHCP server must first contact the NOC. By default, all DHCP server traffic is blocked at the data jack level. This is to prevent a home network device that is improperly plugged into the data jack from bringing down the network. Note that DHCP client traffic from user machines is not blocked.

 

 

Search Our Site
How are we doing?
Rate OIT Services
This page is maintained by the Office of Information Technology
Last modified: Wednesday, 21-Oct-2009 17:16:22 EDT
© 2009 University of Maryland